The Way It All Ends
by Master-Chef64
Summary: BACK IN BUSINESS BABY! She never let him kiss her though. She wanted to see how far she could push him. She wanted to see just how far the near-infallible Ned Bigby could go before even he would give in to his urges. Ned/Missy RxR please!
1. Cheerleading and Exploding Duffel Bags

Missy Meany sat down outside her porch Friday afternoon, a duffel bag and suitcase in tow, with tears welling up in her eyes. Her parents, irate that their daughter didn't even make the cheerleader team this year let alone captain, threw her out of the house. Their voices were still echoing through her entire being.

"_Missy, do you not realize all the time, effort, and money we've invested in you and your cheering career?!" Mrs. Meany yelled at her daughter, despite Missy's counterarguments._

"_But mom..." Missy said at a much lower decibel level, "I tried to tell you two back in the 9__th__ grade, I didn't want to do cheerleading anymore...I thought you understood me...I only did it because it made you happy..."_

"_Well you should've realized by then that we had already invested close to twenty-thousand dollars in this. You can't expect us to just let you throw all of that away." Mr. Meany retaliated, backing her mother in this argument. The house went silent for a moment before Mr. Meany sighed heavily, "I want you out of this house after dinner. Your mother and I want nothing to do with you."_

"_Um, yeah sure, whatever..." Missy replied sarcastically, looking at her nails. Her parents hadn't changed their pose at all when Missy looked back up at them, "Seriously...you guys are kidding right? I mean, there's no way..." Silence ensued for a painfully long time._

"_WHAT?!" Missy exclaimed at last, "You can't do that! Where will I go? I don't have money to afford even a hotel!"_

_Mr. Meany confided, looking at his wife for a moment then back towards Missy, "We should at least financially aid her until she can support herself."_

"_What? What's that supposed to mean?" Missy said, shocked at her parents' unmoving stance._

"_Missy, you're 18 now, and you since you're not going to become a cheerleader, you need to learn how other adults face the real world." Missy's mother said, "We don't want to do this to you, but we feel, given the circumstances, that it's the only way we'll be able to get through to you. I blame myself for allowing you to become so...attached...to us" these words stung Missy when her mother said them so cold-heartedly, "But no matter what, we still love you Missy, and if you happen to fall into more bad times, we'll let you back into our house."_

_Missy couldn't believe what was going on, one minute her parents were congratulating her on getting a solid 85 on her Algebra test, the next she was getting kicked out of the house for something that she felt wasn't her problem._

_'Why should I get punished for something that I totally didn't do.' Missy thought to herself 'I mean, I soooo told them this a long time ago."_

_She had packed all of her 'essential' belongings in her bright pink suitcase while packing up some extras in a matching duffel bag, realizing that not everything she'd need would fit in her already exorbitantly huge suitcase._

Outside on her porch, Missy noticed a storm was approaching. It was then that something clicked in her mind. She instantly got up and marched back into the foyer, wiping the stray drops from her face, staring straight at her parents.

"I don't know where you got this idea, but saying I'm _almost_ 18 doesn't make it so." Missy steamed, "For you guys to kick me out, I have to be legally emancipated, which I just _happen_ not to be. Therefore, I have every right to stay here until I'm 18, a decent job, AND a place for me to stay that's within my budget."

Missy's parents stared at their daughter for a moment, mostly in shock at their daughter's apparently extensive knowledge of how the legal system worked.

"That's a very good point Missy." Mr. Meany said with a sort of half-smile, "You haven't even set one foot off the property and you're already learning about the real world. Very well, you've made an exceptional argument, you may stay, but don't expect to free load your way out of this one, young lady." He went back to the day's paper, reading up on his stock investments.

"Yeah fine, whatever..." Missy said in her usual fashion, content that she made her point, "So, um, where's the, like, newspaper section for this kind of stuff?" Her father simply flipped to the corresponding page listing in the newspaper, making sure not to lose his own place, removed the section and handed it to Missy without looking or even speaking to her.

Missy spent the rest of the evening looking through the various apartment and job listings, matching together what she felt was doable. 5 headaches and 9 short naps later, she had amassed a fairly small pile of listings that she became even the slightest bit interested in. She decided during all of this that she would look for a job over the weekend, then begin looking for a place to stay once she felt she had enough money to pay for rent and food. Rubbing her forehead once again, she looked at the clock placed above the fireplace. It was only 10:32 PM, two hours since the fiasco earlier. Missy took a hand-towel out of the drawer in the kitchen and ran it under cold water before putting it on her red and raw forehead. She never had to do work as intensive as this before, the only thing comparable being a car wash in middle school, and even then she barely worked, except on her tan. She lied down on the sofa, deciding to call it a night. She was just about to fall asleep when her mother walked in holding a cup of tea.

"Missy, what are you doing here? You really should go to bed now, you have a big day tomorrow, don't you?" Mrs. Meany said, almost in a motherly voice, but a detached hollowness still presided, "Come on, let's get you upstairs."

Missy sat upright, but refused to move from her spot on the couch, "If you and Dad are really following through on this, I better start losing familiarity with this place, shouldn't I?" She looked at her mother, who was now tearing up almost as much as Missy had only moments earlier. Missy's mother grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her into a truly heartfelt hug, lasting for several moments before Mrs. Meany let go of her daughter.

"Sweetie, I understand where you're coming from, and I respect your decision," She started, gulping air in between phrases, "But we still love you no matter what. We would be horrible parents if we let you sleep down here when you have a perfectly good be upstairs. Besides," Mrs. Meany had a slight smirk on her face, "What do you think you'll be sleeping on in your new apartment?"

Missy sat with a slightly clueless look on her face. "So what you're telling me is that...I'll be taking the bed with me? Even though it's technically yours?"

Missy's mother sighed humorously and shook her head. "Missy, that is _your_ bed, you sleep on it don't you?" she said softly to her daughter, "Of course you're going to take it with you, there would be almost no point in us keeping it anyway."

Missy looked her mother in the eyes before breaking down herself, mostly from stress, and repaid the hug with an equally forceful one of her own. Missy grabbed her notes from the coffee table, went up to her room, and quite literally collapsed on he bed, allowing it to envelope her being. Once again, she had almost fell asleep when her phone rang a familiar tune. Missy lazily grabbed the phone and looked at the caller ID.

_'Ned Bigby...Why the hell are you calling me...?'_ Missy slid the phone up and placed it to her ear, "Um...hi Ned."

"Yeah, hi..." Ned's all-too familiar voice replied through the speaker, "Listen, I was driving around with some friends, and I passed by your house, and I thought I saw some luggage outside. I'm just calling to make sure you know about that."

_'Oh crap I forgot about my stuff!'_ Missy thought to herself before frantically voicing into the phone, "Oh uh yeah don't worry haha yeah I know about that I better go bring it back in a storm's comin' y'know." Her voice was almost incomprehensible at the speed with which it was delivered.

"Ok, well I'm still outside your house," Ned replied, slightly embarrassed, "You know, just making sure nobody's trying to steal it...heh heh..."

_'Um, wow...that's kinda weird even for Bigby...'_ Missy slipped into some flip-flops and headed down the stairs, "Oh, okay. Well, thanks. I, uh, appreciate that..."

Missy opened the door to find that Ned Bigby, her one true crush, was in fact in front of her house. Cautiously, she raised her hand in a waving fashion while she bent over to to grab the duffel bag. Apparently she packed it just a tad too much, and one of the seams broke, spilling clothes and health-and-beauty products everywhere.

_'Great, as if this day couldn't get any damn worse...'_ Missy thought to herself as she tried to salvage the bag as a carrier while she repacked it as best she could. She heard a car door close, and looked up to see Ned briskly walking over to help her. If there was one thing she could say she loved about Ned, it was that he was so selfless in his efforts. Even though she plotted all through middle school all the way until the 10th grade to get him to go out with her, he still treats her like everyone else. He grabbed some of the larger items, such as her shampoo and conditioner, while she continued with her lip glosses and other tubular objects.

"How can you do this Ned?" Missy asked the boy next to her with a near-rasp in her voice.

"Do what?" Ned replied quizzically, putting two large bottles in the new duffel opening.

"Care enough about me to do this despite all that I've done to you?" Missy said slightly heartbroken, reminiscing all the times she tricked him into going out with her, sometimes against his will.

"It's just who I am Missy, I can't go around NOT being nice." Ned smiled as he put a friendly hand on Missy's tired shoulder, "Besides, what is all of this stuff doing out here?"

Missy just smiled coyly as she put the last of the items in the bag, "Well, if you help me out tomorrow I may just tell you." She winked to Ned before setting the duffel bag down in the living room of her house. She came back out to get her suitcase when Ned put a very welcomed arm around Missy.

"Is this another one of your plans to get me?" Ned asked comically, making Missy laugh and smile with integrity, something she hasn't done for a while.

"No..." Missy strained out of her mouth, "I just need to get some stuff done, and a car would _really _be helpful."

"Well, I wasn't planning on doing anything regardless, so I guess I'll have to accept your offer, Missy." Ned smiled as her looked at her with his deep blue eyes. Missy couldn't help but giggle slightly, Ned always knew, regardless of what he said, how to make a guy, or girl in this case, feel better in an instant.

"Really? Aw thank you Ned!" Missy practically leapt into Ned, giving him a big hug and a matching kiss on the cheek. "I'll call you tomorrow when I'm ready, if that's all right with you?"

"That's perfectly fine Missy." Ned began to backstep towards his car, "Goodnight Missy, hope you sleep well."

"Thanks Ned, bye!" Missy yelled out as he drove away, _'I hope you sleep well too...'_ Missy pulled her suitcase alongside the ruined bag, and looked down at her phone. It was already midnight, she must've spent more time with Ned than she thought. She quickly grabbed a comb and went into the bathroom, running through her hair a few times to get out any loose knots. After that, she went upstairs to her bed, and promptly fell asleep, feeling elevated to a higher level than she felt all day.


	2. Plaster of Waffle

The alarm clock struck 6:30 am, and thunderously pounded a power ballad by Def Leppard into Missy's ears as she clambered to find the ambiguously huge snooze button on top of every alarm clock. Eventually, giving up, Missy got out of bed and manually switched the alarm off. Zombified from her many dreams last night, Missy shuffled over to the bathroom, and proceeded to shower. Starting with a quick wash of her hair with her vitamin-infused shampoo, Missy followed it with a rinse down and a second, more meticulous shampoo session. Finishing with conditioner, she grabbed a loofah and began to wash her body with a cucumber/lemon-based body wash. After rinsing everything off of herself, Missy grabbed a clean towel and wrapped it around her body, examining herself in the mirror. She then grabbed a smaller towel and wrapped her hair in it. After a few moments of day dreaming, Missy removed the towel from her hair, and began to work on it. With her mother being a cosmetologist Missy learned how to take care of her own hair from a young age. Contemplating what to do, one of her many dreams came to mind.

_Missy was in Ned's car driving down the main street. It was an old-beater of a car, but that didn't seem to bother Ned, and for some reason Missy, a girl known for not even liking anything old or ugly, didn't mind this either. She looked over at Ned, his eyes piercing into her every thought, and she couldn't help but smile. He put his arm around Missy as she nudged closer to her_.

"...layers..." Missy said to herself after she pulled herself out of her daydream. Starting with her innermost hairs, Missy began straightening her hair at random lengths and intervals. When she had finally finished, a process of 30 straight minutes, she began to have second thoughts about it. Instead of getting a salon-styled layering, her hair seemed more like it had become slightly feral. Upon closer inspection of the damages, Missy felt surprisingly content with her hair.

_'Well, it's definitely not great, but it does look pretty damn sexy...'_ Missy thought to herself as she started fluffing it up, causing it to look even more untamed. _'Oh yeah Missy, you're gonna be getting looks from everybody!'_ Looking like a towel-clad Amazonian, Missy looked at her cell phone's clock, it read 8:15. She had mentally decided to call Ned at 8:45, giving her enough time to pick out some clothes and get something to eat before she started out on her job hunt. Looking through her clothes, Missy soon realized that she didn't have many clothes that would strike employers as a "I'm a hard worker". After 2o minutes of trial and error, Missy decided on a denim miniskirt and a white shirt. While it didn't seem to be completely appropriate for applying to jobs, Missy felt it would give her an advantage as far as first impressions would go. When Missy realized the time, she cursed under her breath, gathered some of her essentials in a medium-sized purse, and headed downstairs. During this time, she began searching her address list for Ned's cell phone number. Once she found it, she quickly hit the dial key so that she couldn't fall through on the effort.

1 dial...

2 dials...

3 dials...

"Uhm, hi Missy?" An obviously sleepy Ned Bigby answered, "I take it you're ready to go?"

"Yeah I'm ready" Missy replied, "Do you need some extra sleep, cuz I can totally understand..."

"No, no...it's fine. I need to get up anyway." shuffling noises could be heard in the background, "I'll be there in about 10 minutes if that's all right?"

"That's perfect Ned thank you!" Missy smiled while she played with her hair some more, "Bye!"

"Alrighty, seeya..." Was the last thing Ned said before Missy heard the click of his phone. Missy quickly ran into the kitchen to catch her father at the breakfast table with his coffee and toast.

"You're up early." Was all he said. Missy didn't care though, at least he still acknowledged her existance.

"I figured I'd get a head start on the job search," Missy started the guilt train, "you know, so I can get out of your lives quicker and all..."

"Hmm..." Mr. Meany took a long drink from his cup. Either he wasn't quite listening to Missy, or he didn't fall for the trap. Missy decided it was the latter and picked out an apple from the fruit basket. Taking a bite out of it, she opened the fridge and pulled out an opened milk carton, checking the date. After confirming it's drinkablity, she poured herself a glass and quickly drank it down, knowing Ned could be coming any minute. Still eating the apple, Missy periodically checked outside for any signs of him. At around 8:57, Ned's car came into view. Involuntarily, Missy jumped in a joyous manner and even giggled slightly as she skipped out the door. She figured if there were a good time to test her outfit and hair, it would be on Ned.

"Hey Ned, thanks SOOO much for coming over!" Missy said bubbly, going over to the passenger's side and getting in.

"Yeah, it's no probl-woah..." Ned sputtered after seeing Missy up close. Either Missy had some sort of disfigurement she hadn't known about until now, or her makeover succeeded, "Uh...you look...nice..."

"Aw thanks Ned!" Missy felt her heart jump a little, "Hey, listen, I guess I probably should tell you why I asked you to do this and all..." Missy blushed a little, though she couldn't figure out why.

"Yeah, I kinda would like to know why you of all people would ask me to drive you around, or whatever it is you want." Ned chuckled slightly as he put the car in neutral, "So what do you have planned for today?"

Missy thought for a moment on how much she should tell Ned "Well, long story short: I need to get a job and my parents aren't going to drive me around. So that's why I asked you if you could."

Ned had that look on his face, that look that told Missy he was going to want more information than she wished to divulge. "You know I gotta ask why your parents aren't going to take you around town looking for jobs."

"Yeah..." Missy sighed, "Well, we better get going. I'll tell you along the way, promise."

Ned nodded and practically threw the car into first gear, muttering under his breath. On their way to the city center, Missy told Ned all about the events that occurred yesterday, the fighting, her parents kicking her out, everything. All while keeping her composure through most of it. A few times she had to stop to catch some breath or let a few tears drop, but Ned was a patient guy. He kindly offered her a tissue from his dashboard with a sincere smile.

"C'mon now, don't wanna ruin your mascara before you even start." He jokingly punched Missy's should as she dried the corners of her eyes. _'Damn, ever since Moze moved away...I dunno...Missy just seems...different...'_ kept running through Ned's mind. Even though he had gotten back together with Suzie, she later broke up with him in the 10th grade for Billy Loomer, yet again. Missy had tried again, in vain, to win over Ned's heart that year. After failing once again, Missy decided that Ned wasn't worth it anymore, and vowed to him that she was out of his life for good. As far as Ned was concerned, that seemed to be the case. Even now, though she is technically back in Ned's life, Ned felt that she was more of a friend now instead of a stalker, a friend who needed someone there for them. "Hey, if you ever need some help, like a referral for a resume' or something, I'm there for you, okay?"

Missy looked up with a half-smile on her face. Her mascara barely bled throughout the entire ordeal, but it managed to enhance her raw sexuality even further. "Thanks Ned. I really owe you one now, especially after how I treated you before..."

"Hey, everyone makes mistakes." Ned started laughing, "Besides, I know from experience that you get very involved in your work."

"Oh shut up." Missy laughed as she hit Ned's shoulder. Feigning a saddened face, Ned began looking at where they were, and noticed one of the places that Missy had mentioned.

"Hey, there's the tile store, wanna go check that place out first?" Ned motioned to his left. A giant monolith of a warehouse stood out amongst the smaller restaurants, rivaled only by the mall on the opposing side of the road.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." Missy began looking over herself through the mirror, checking that nothing seemed out of place. "Say Ned, do you wanna come in with me? I don't know how long it'll take..."

"Thanks but I think I'll just wait here." Ned answered, "I got some thought-organizing to do, that sorta stuff."

"Okay," Missy said slightly hurt, but not noticeable, "I'll be back soon then, I hope."

As Missy headed off into the warehouse, Ned couldn't help but stare at the gorgeous ass before him. The way it swayed from side to side captivated him, until a bird decided to drop its cargo right on Ned's windshield.

"Gah!" Ned jumped before turning on the windshield wipers. After the glass showed no signs of corruption, Ned turned the engine off so he wouldn't waste gas. Ned started contemplating all the recent thoughts that have been blasting through his subconscious, finding an underlying tie to most of them: Missy Meany.

_'Okay Ned, pull yourself together,'_ He started drumming on the top of the steering wheel, _'There's NO way that you're attracted to Missy beyond that of a friend. I mean, this CAN'T be right...can it?'_ Ned started the wheels of a vicious cycle of thoughts and dreams, all of them leading to the woman who formerly occupied the seat next to him. Ned argued with himself mentally for what seemed like forever until he finally relented and smacked his head against the hair leather steering wheel, straining out a long and painful groan. Ned Bigby had, at possibly the worst time, fallen in love with Missy Meany. After admitting this to himself, Ned began wondering how he was going to deal with this. Of course, he could just tell Missy when they're done job hunting and wait for her result, or Ned could just hide his feelings for as long as possible. Both options had they're perks, but they also had immense risks involved. Either Missy really has gotten over him, or she'll be appalled that after all these years of chasing him and giving up, he's the one who has the attraction. Of course, there was always the chance that Missy herself never truly got over him, and still harbors some feelings for him, which would definitely explain why she asked him of all people to drive her around town...

_'...drive her around...NO! BAD THOUGHTS!'_ Ned banged his head against the steering wheel once again, attempting to exorcise these provocative thoughts from his head. Exhausted from self-argument, Ned reclined the seat as far as it could, and in no time drifted away. After what only seemed like a few moments, a loud tapping suddenly woke a drooling Ned from his slumber.

"Ned!" Missy looked impatiently at him, tapping the window, "C'mon, let's go!"

"Oh, sorry, must've dozed off..." Ned said redundantly, "Uh, lemme just get this unlocked..."

A dull click could be heard within the vehicle itself as Missy rounded the front of the car to get inside. Although slightly annoyed at Ned, Missy seemed to be very confident with herself. "Were you alright in here alone? I mean, I was gone for about 40 minutes, I actually thought you died for a minute there."

Missy began giggling in a way that Ned hadn't heard before. It wasn't patronizing like her other laughs, it seemed to come from genuine happiness. "Oh no, I was fine, I just got down with my whole 'thought-collecting' a lot sooner than I thought." Ned started stroking his hair from front to back. He had mentally decided that if he was truly in love with Missy, he might as well show her he'd be there for her, "Say, do you want me to come with you at the next place we go to?"

"Thanks Ned, I'd really like that." Missy smiled cheerfully and reached over the transmission to give Ned a friendly hug, "Alright, I think the closest place from here is 'Joe-Chef's Diner' on Main and 64th so that would be...west." Missy pulled out a small map of the town, tracing her finger from the tile store. Ned started the car, and began to idle through the parking lot. Reaching the western exit, Missy then verbally guided him toward the diner, which was literally just a few seconds-drive from the tile store. They found a suitable parking space, and proceeded inside the small food establishment. The diner was quaint, one of those places where people seem to know everybody else. A small bell strung to the door rang out as the two entered. One of the waitresses who didn't appear to have anything to do at the moment made her way to the front to greet the two young strangers.

"So what can I get you two?" The waitress appeared to be middle-aged, her skin beginning to lose its tautness. Ned stepped a little to the side, a sort of nod to Missy for her to start talking.

"Well.." Missy, for the first time in her life, couldn't come up with the right words to say. Why she had become so nervous was beyond her. She tried in vain for what seemed forever when Ned undid his sidestep.

"My friend here, she really needs a job, and noticed your add in the newspaper." Ned put his around Missy. It wasn't quite around the waist or shoulder, somewhere in the middle, but that was all it took to get Missy going again.

"Uh, yeah, sorry." She seemed a lot less flustered now, "I was just wondering if there was some sort of form that I needed to fill out or something similar to that?"

"Honey, I'll be frank with you, you won't like it here." The waitress seemed to have knowledge far beyond what she projected, "Please, don't get me wrong, you seem like a nice girl and all. But I can tell that you can do a lot better than here. Now go on, find yourself a real job, save this one for us old ladies." The woman smiled slightly before walking back to one of the booths to refill some empty coffee cups. Ned and Missy took the waitress' advice and left promptly. It was near noon, and Missy was starting to get a little hungry, while Ned was already famished due to him skipping out on breakfast. They got into Ned's car and sat there for a while.

"So..." Missy said, a little confused as to what just happened.

"So..." Ned replied stupidly when his stomach made a most ravenous noise, "Um...wanna get lunch?"

Missy just smiled, which was all Ned needed.


	3. Hail Caesar of Bench!

Disclaimer-Since it's not on the first chapter, it's here, fools! I don't own anything here except for the setting and plot pretty much.

Ned pulled the car out of reverse and headed out toward the mall. After a couple minutes searching for a parking spot, the entered the east entrance and headed towards the food court. The two didn't talk much during this, figuring they'd talk a lot after they find a place to sit. Standing near the center of the food court, Ned finally broke the immediate silence.

"So, um, what do you wanna eat?" Ned asked, pulling out his wallet.

"Oh...wherever..." Missy said less-than optimistically, "I am hungry, I just don't know for what though..." Ned and Missy then start walking a lap around the area, surveying the different food choices, when Missy stopped and lightly tugged Ned's arm.

"Hey, that place looks good." Missy pointed to a small Italian restaurant hidden away in the corner. Ned was too hungry to argue and walked over to grab a menu for the two to look at. Ned's mouth was practically gushing liquid just by the smell of the place, and the menu only intensified that feeling. Missy, likewise, found many items on the menu that were yelling out to her. They approached the waiter behind the booth, who motioned them to a table for two that seemed suspiciously secluded. He promptly filled the two wine glasses set at the table with water.

"Good afternoon. My name is Vincente' and I shall be your server today." The waiter not only sounded, but looked authentically Italian, right down to the broomstick mustache "Would you two like anything else to drink? Or perhaps a starter?"

"Missy, would you like anything to start off with?" Ned asked in a most gentleman-like voice.

"Oh, no thank you." She then turned toward the waiter, "I'll also be fine with just the water, thank you."

"Of course, miss." The waiter turned over to Ned, "And for you, sir?"

"Hmm, I think I'll be okay with just the water for now as well, thank you." Ned watched as the waiter made a bow and proceeded to his other tables, fulfilling the customers' every whim, "Say Missy, where did you learn to be so..."

Missy just looked at Ned, her eyebrow raised, "Nice?" Ned just did a guilty nod, "Well, believe it or not, I am capable of being a polite young lady. I guess just ever since the 9th grade things changed to quickly for me."

"Hey, it happens to the best of us." Ned took a drink from his glass. 'Damn! That water's great!'

"Yeah, but you had Cookie and Moze there for you, I had nobody." Missy started to frown slightly, obviously not wanting to relive the past.

"Missy, if you don't want to talk about it, I understand." Ned tried to comfort Missy with kind words before opening up the menu, "So, what would you like to eat."

"Ned, you don't get it do you?" Missy started to become annoyed at Ned's naivety, "Maybe I want to get this off of my chest? I'm not the pretty and popular girl everyone knew in middle school, I'm that pretty girl that nobody knows now. I mean, Moze and I sorta became friends by the end of the year, but then she moved, and I was left with no one again. You, know, I'm sorry I brought you into this, I'll just leave you alone. I can get through this one my own."

Missy got up out of her chair to leave, but Ned was quicker than her. Holding her by her arms, Ned stared deep into Missy's eyes.

"Missy...I'm sorry..." Ned confided in her, hoping that would be enough to at least let him speak.

"You're not sorry Ned, you can't be..." Missy replied with a tired voice, "...not until you truly understand what I've gone through these past 4 years..."

"You're right, I don't understand, and I would be a complete asshole if I tried to tell you otherwise." Ned said, still holding onto her, "But running away from your problems isn't going to help. Now come on, sit down, enjoy some food, and _make me understand_."

Missy hated how Ned had the ability to make anybody listen to him. Pouting slightly, she sat back down. If she was going to let herself be wooed by his innocent charms, the she's gonna make damn sure he enjoys it just as much as she is. "Alright, you want in? Let's start with this- ever since the whole valentine prank Loomer pulled on me last year, guess where I've been going every study hall?"

Ned and Missy shared the same study hall the past 3 years, but it was only now that Ned realized that she had been leaving every study hall, not coming back until a few minutes before the class ended. "Um...Gordy?"

"Close enough..." Missy sighed, "I went to the bathroom and cried. Every. Single. Day. All because of that 'harmless prank'. God...look at me I'm a wreck...and this really isn't making it better..." Missy began wiping away her mascara and eyeliner, realizing that she probably looks like the bride of Frankenstein now.

"Hey, c'mon now you're making me feel like a wreck." Ned laughed a little, trying to console her, "Now, let's talk about something different like...clothes?"

The instant Ned mentioned clothes, he realized that he had opened Pandora's Box. Missy's eyes opened up to such an immense size Ned began to think they had bulged out of their sockets. What Ned started as a helpful suggestion turned into an unstoppable force as Missy began listing all of her favorite lipglosses, coverups, blushes, jeans, shirts, and shoes in order from best to worst, in her opinion. For what seemed like forever Missy's bantering went on and on, until Ned couldn't take it anymore and forced his hand over Missy's mouth.

"Waiter, sir, I believe we're ready to order!" Ned half-exclaimed before slowly removing his hand from Missy's mouth, "Sorry about that..."

"Hey, don't be." Missy was smiling again, causing a shiver down Ned's spine, "It's just been a while since I've had someone to open up to...all the girls hate me now" Missy started laughing at this notion. Why exactly was beyond Ned, but he didn't have time to contemplate as the waiter had reached their table, his pen and pad in hand.

"Yes, miss, what would you like to have?" The waiter asked politely.

"Hmm, I'll have the Chicken Caesar Salad, please." Missy said after a mere glancing at the menu.

"Very fine choice. And for you, sir?" The Waiter said as he scribbled down Missy's salad in a faux-shorthand.

"I'll have the spaghetti bolognese, please." Ned replied.

"Yes, yes. Both excellent choices!" The waiter made a cliched kissing motion with his hand, "Please allow for 5-10 minutes for your meals." He bowed once again before heading off to the kitchen to deliver their orders. There was a few minutes of silence between the two, Ned checking the time on his phone while Missy re-organized her list of jobs.

"So, you're gonna be living by yourself, huh?" Ned finally mustered up the courage to ask Missy about the topic they've avoided so far.

"Yeah, I'm so psyched." Missy said. Having gotten over the initial shock of being kicked out, Missy realized the many benefits of a life outside of her parents' house, "I'm gonna be able to party like everyday and I'll be able to furnish everything with all my stuff!"

"Say, regarding that," Ned said cautiously, "You do realize that you won't be able to have so many of the...luxuries that you're used to having before, right?"

"What do you mean?" Missy was confused about Ned's claim, "If you're talking about the parties then yeah, I know I'll have to cut back since I'll have to be within my work budget and stuff. I was just doing some wishful thinking stuff, you know?"

"Well it's not just that." Ned steeled himself for the inevitable, "You'll also have to cut back on stuff like..."

"Like...?" Missy continued to prod the answer out of Ned.

"...like makeup and clothes and shoes and stuff like that..." Ned quickly winced in preparation of a Missy-brand scream, but nothing came. He opened his eyes to see her with a puzzled look on her face.

"What do you mean?" Missy didn't realize Ned's argument, "It's not like that stuff costs a lot of money. I mean, I'm no cheapskate, but I don't buy the crazy expensive stuff..."

"Okay, but just for the hell of it, list to me all of your makeup." Ned seemed very concerned that they would be here a while. Missy began listing off all of her assorted cosmetics, starting from the eyes down. 4 minutes later she finished with some obscure brand of lipstick.

"Wow..." Missy was surprised herself, "I have quite a lot of stuff..."

"Exactly my point." Ned awoke from a half-sleep, "I mean, I'm not a girl or use makeup or anything, but I would think you'd only need two of each product for some variety, whereas you have 14 different lip glosses! When people decide to cut back on spending, they usually forget the small stuff ends up costing the most, especially when you go through it quicker than anything else."

Missy looked a little hurt, "Oh, okay. I get it now..."

"Hey, don't get all sad on me again." Ned tried to cheer her up with some goofy antics, but to no avail.

"Nah, it's okay Ned." Missy said in a very content voice, "Now that I think about it, I rarely ever use half of that stuff anyway. Thanks Ned, that actually really helped." By this time their food had already been placed before them, so they decided to spend the rest of the time at the restaurant in silence. When they had finished eating, Ned was about to put his credit card down when Missy involuntarily grabbed his hand. Both a little shocked, they quickly retracted.

"I'll pay for it Ned, after all you've done for me it's the least I can do." Missy looked through her purse for the one 20 bill she kept for emergencies.

"No no, you need to conserve your money for now." Ned replied, attempting to place the bill back into Missy's hand.

"Ned, as much as I appreciate your kind gesture, I need to do this for myself." Missy said, still holding onto Ned's had as she put the money down. "Now come on, let's leave now before you change your mind." She continued to hold Ned's hand as they made their way to Ned's car. They had exited the mall when Ned took control and pulled Missy off to the side, and sat her down on a bench.

"Listen, Missy..." Ned looked directly at her, "I understand that you want to start acting like an adult, but I'm the last person you should be doing this to. You should act this way in front of people who will judge you based on these kinds of events."

"Wait, so you're saying you don't care about me...?" Missy had an inferno in her eyes, and was about to unleash her fury when Ned interjected a second time.

"NO NO!" Ned yelled as he held his arms in front of him, "What I mean is that I don't judge people on outward appearances and how they act in front of other people! I judge people based on how they act in a semi-private life! I actually find you to be a very nice person and I actually really like you! Please don't hurt me!"

Missy's inferno instantly died out when she heard Ned utter those last few words. She started to lean in towards him, her voice getting softer and her cheeks turning a flushed pink. "Do you really mean it? You really like me...?"

"Yeah. I mean I did think you were a little crazy back in middle school." Ned and Missy both laughed a little, "But I always did think that deep down you could be someone a lot of people like. And, well, today you showed that to me." Ned's breathing started to get labored. 'Oh god she's dangerously close. Okay Ned, just keep your cool and everything will b-AAAAHHHHHHHH!'

At that moment both Ned's and Missy's eyes were closed as their lips locked for a mere moment. Instinctively, they pushed themselves off of each other, shocked beyond horror. Staring at each other for what seemed like forever, Missy broke the heavy tension with a forced laugh.

"Heh, um...that was..." Missy panted, her heart racing. 'Ohmygod! We kissed! Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!'

"Interesting...?" Ned labored in response, "Um...this didn't happen right?"

"Yeah, sure..." Missy tricked herself into believing, "Um, I just had a moment of relapse...and you..."

"Uh...I just got caught up...since" Ned was grasping for a belief of his own, "...since Moze is gone...yeah..."

"Right..." Miss regained her composure slightly, "Um, three of the places on my list are actually in the mall..."

"All right, that seems like a good idea." Ned replied after mentally slapping himself, "Um, shall we continue?" Ned held the door open for Missy, but even that simple gesture nearly brought out the worst in them.

'Oh...why did I kiss him...I didn't want it to happen like this?' Missy thought to herself as she controlled her urges. 'What is he going to say about all this..."

'Damn...I wanted to tell her before I did any of this..." Ned thought at the same time as Missy, "But...she really does seem to have changed...I hope..."

A/N: Oh snap a kiss! I'm new to the whole "Author's Notes" deal, so tell me what you think of the story so far. I actually didn't plan for the kiss to happen this early, but it was almost inevitable given the path I chose the two to go down on, but don't think that all the super-fluff begins, oh no there's still quite a lot before that. Please, I'd feel better if only 3 people read my story and reviewed than if half of China did an no reviews!


	4. Kittens and Kissing

A/N: All right I got 2 reviews! As long as I have 1 person reading(which is double the amount now), I shall continue writing! WOO! Anywho, here's the fourth chapter, enjoy!

Missy and Ned walked back through the mall towards her next job listing, a torrent of thoughts raced through their minds. Unbeknownst to either of them, their thoughts weren't too far from the other's. Ranging from complete shock to guilty pleasure with the kiss they shared, they both seemed to not have wished that it didn't happen. Missy kept shifting her gaze to anywhere but Ned, trying to find out where the shops were, while Ned just stared at the ground, trying to flush his mind the best he could.

_'How the hell could I like Missy, MISSY of all people!_' He managed to hide his panicked look with one of slight discontent and boredom, _'I really have to see Cookie on Monday...'_

"Hey, there's one of them." Missy lightly poked Ned's arm, causing him to snap out of his thoughts. Missy was pointing at the Mall's pet shop. "I just hope I don't have to actually like, clean up after them or anything..."

"Well, I think it's kinda suiting for you Missy." Ned tried his best at casual talking, "I mean, this pet shop is known for it's kittens."

"Aw, I love kittens!" Missy squealed as she saw the display case, confirming Ned's previous statement, "Aw...they're all so adorable!" Ned couldn't help but feel happy for Missy despite what just happened. Seeing her smile like she was made Ned feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside, but he quickly put on a manly visage before Missy noticed him. They headed through the mass of small children towards the back, where there was a lone employee leaning back against the wall.

"Hey, there anything I can do for you two?" The young man, not much older-looking than Ned or Missy, pushed himself off of the wall and placed his hands against his waist.

"Well, my...my friend here was actually looking to apply for a job and noticed your listing," Ned tried his best to make their relationship seem completely platonic, "right Missy?"

Missy quickly turned around upon hearing her name, realizing that Ned had already started without her. "Oh yeah, sorry. I'm Missy Meany, here about the job listing in the newspaper." She held out a confident hand, which the employee promptly shook.

"Alright, you're the first one to actually come in wondering about the job." The guy smiled, "My name's John, I'm the assistant manager here. If you'll follow me into my office we can sort out the paperwork."

Missy followed John into the back area, leaving Ned to his thoughts once again. Ned decided now was the time to give his best friend a call.

1 ring...

2 rings...

"Hello!" An upbeat voice picked up on the other side.

"Cookie!" Ned was relieved beyond words, "Listen, I REALLY need to talk to you!"

"Sorry Ned, but I'm in the middle of something..." Noises could be heard from Cookie's end, as if papers were being ruffled.

"Cookie, I'm serious this time!" Ned was trying his hardest to keep his friend's attention.

"Look, Ned," Cookie seemed as calm as ever despite Ned's hysteria, "you're just gonna have to call back later..."

"I kissed Missy!" Ned hissed through the phone as loud as he dared in order to get his point across.

"..." All noise had stopped before Cookie reemerged moments later, "I'm listening..."

Ned poured all of his thoughts and actions that transpired throughout the day, leading up to the climactic kiss. Cookie listened on in silence, not wanting to disrupt his friend's train of thought. When Ned had finally finished, his huffing audible even from Cookie's end of the conversation, his friend stayed as calm as ever.

"Ned, here's what you need to do." Cookie began working his cyborg charm and he whizzed through his glasses-bound computer, "Take her out on a date...what?!"

"What?!" Ned yelled out the exact same time Cookie did, "Um, how is that supposed to help me?! I'm trying to get OVER HER! Not make her my girlfriend!"

"Well, from my computer analysis," Cookie began working through his results, "Going on a date with her will help the two of you determine whether or not you will be compatible in a long-lasting relationship, thus allowing both of you to get on with your relative lives."

"Um, Cookie..." Ned started nervously, "There's just one tiny problem..."

"What, she's gone all psycho again and won't let you out of her sight without another one of those 'I'm with Missy' shirts?" Cookie answered matter-of-factly.

"Eh...no..." Ned's pulse began to race, "What if, say, I, uh, kinda liked her already...?"

"...I see..." Cookie began stroking a long-imagined beard on his chin, "Well, Ned, I'm not one for bias. Therefore, the only thing I can tell you, besides the fact that Missy's CRAZY, is to follow your heart."

"All right..." Ned relented, confiding his feelings into his phone, "See you Monday then?"

"Yeah." Cookie replied, "And Ned, don't worry, I'm sure underneath her psychotic exterior, she's a nice girl."

Ned closed his cell phone, and perused through the small store, noting how illogically items had been organized. Upon reaching the animals themselves, Ned suddenly felt a deep thud in his chest. Before him stood two kittens, snuggling up against each other. The event itself didn't upset him as much as the fact that the kittens bore a disturbing resemblance to Missy and Ned, right down to the crystal-blue eyes. Ned felt like he was staring into a mirror, albeit a horrendously blurred one, and almost thought he was looking into his own mind. Wave after wave of memories of Missy chasing him, forcing shirts on him, Moze saving him from despair...

Moze...

He never could forget her. They were meant to be, everyone thought it, most said it, and some, like Cookie, practically knew it. It flourished the summer after 8th grade and all through the 9th grade. They seemed to be inseparable. That was, until the summer. Ned and Moze went to a beach party hosted by Coconut Head, and Ned might have had a few too many kool-aid's. Eventually, Moze caught him behind a rock making out with none other than Suzie Crabgrass. With a fiery passion, Moze stormed away from the party to Ned's car. When Ned sobered up, he'd realized what happened, and ran out to the parking lot to find Moze sitting against the rear wheel, sobbing.

"_Moze, oh my god..." Ned ran over to her as fast as he could, "I am such an jerk, I didn't realize how much I drank! She took advantage of me, I swear!"_

"_It's not that I don't believe you Ned," Moze gurgled out between gasps, "it's just that...it couldn't have happened earlier!"_

"_Wait...Moze?" Ned, now sitting next to her and holding her tenderly, was starting to get a tad confused, "What do you mean, sooner?"_

"_Ned..." Moze sniffled and inhaled deeply, "I'm moving."_

"_Oh crap...fuck..." Ned now felt like the definition of asshole, "Crapfuck!"_

"_Oh Ned..." Moze leaned in for a kiss, "I wish I could've told you under less..."_

"_Sexually tense situations?" Ned tried to make a little amount of funny out of this rather grim scenario._

"_Heh...yeah" Moze giggled before kissing Ned passionately. Despite all they went through tonight, they always loved each other, "Thanks...I...I really needed that."_

"_Anything for you." Ned embraced her even more, literally squeezing the sadness out of her, "Listen, whatever you wanna do from now until you move, my treat."_

"_Ned, I'm moving in two days..." Moze cried into Ned's shoulder now, "But thank you...I...I love you too much sometimes..."_

"_Not as much as me..." Ned pulled her into another long, deep kiss. Slowly, they made their way upright __without losing that fateful connection. Eventually sprawling themselves out onto the hood of his 1970 Barracuda._

_Moze finally broke off the kiss, "Ned. I want you, now." Her voice was commanding yet seductive. Ned tried his hardest to resist, coming up with various excuses._

"_Uhm, Moze..." Ned tried to be a bit comedic, "In case you haven't noticed, where on the hood of my car. We're parked under a light...Anyone who wonders off will see us!"_

"_Well then," Moze continued kissing Ned's neck vigorously, "Let's go back to my place, my parents are gone for the weekend."_

"_Moze, are you listening to yourself?!" Ned started to panic as Moze continued to feel him, "Are you SURE you want to go through with this?"_

_Moze stopped everything and looked Ned straight in the eyes, "I'm not the one who got drunk."_

_Ned looked into Mozes brown eyes, and saw the woman he loved, the person he should spend the rest of his life with. Knowing he can't be with her forever brought a dangerous, more upfront person in Ned."Let's go."_

_They left the party early, Ned gunning the engine perhaps a bit too much. Running through a stop sign brought them both partially back to their sense, and Ned decided to play it cool for now. Reaching Moze's house, Ned noted that she was correct, there was a lack of car in the driveway. Barely getting out of the car, they began a feverish make out session walking up to the driveway, barely making it through the door before Ned got adventurous and started feeling up Moze's shirt. They shuffled into her room, where Moze assumed authority and pushed Ned onto her bed. Pulling out a condom, she began to tear it open when she noticed Puppybear on one of the pillows.  
_

"_Sorry Puppybear," Moze said in a baby-like voice, "grownup stuff." Moze tossed the doll across the room as she began to straddle Ned, she held the condom packet in her teeth as she began to undress. Ned was getting his shirt off whilst unzipping his pants..._

"Ned?" Missy poked Ned's shoulder once again. This time, however, Ned full-on jumped into alertness.

"Oh god!" He screamed as he leaped into a karate pose, "Oh...um...I can explain..."

"Whatever..." Missy started to get annoyed at Ned's sheer naiveté, "Let's just get to the other place and get this over with..." Missy seemed to be really tired now.

"Missy, if you want to call it a day, that's perfectly fine." Ned put her hand in his and looked at her, "Personally, I would've quit back at the diner." He laughed a little, forcing a small giggle from Missy.

"Well, I need to do this." Missy said a bit redundantly, which she noticed from Ned's expression, "Oh, don't worry it's not for me this time...technically...it's just cuz the place is here, so why not get it out of the way."

Ned nodded and walked with Missy, this time heading South. It was a full 2 minutes of walking before they Missy realized they were still holding hands. "Um...Ned...hands...?"

"What about them?" Ned smiled as he shifted a little closer to her, "Listen I think that, given our current situations, we need each other more than we know. So let's just go with this, alright? I know what I'm doing." Missy didn't complain, she actually understood what Ned was talking about. She really liked Ned, more than she wanted to lead on, but she was afraid that he would turn on her again. Feeling their hands together, it felt comforting and natural. Though Missy knew that Ned didn't mean for this to be a romantic gesture, as much as she wanted, she took the most of it and pulled in real close, claiming she felt a little cold. People began to start looking at them, some people whispering with their friends, others just a casual glance, but to Ned and Missy it felt like the whole world tuned in onto them. Soon after Ned told Missy to go along with his 'plan', they both suffered a fairly violent nervous twitch, and released their hands, now preferring to just walk side-by-side. The two reached an empty section of the mall, its windows blurred by soap.

"That's strange..." Missy said to herself, "This is supposed to be the place..." They continued pacing around the area, in case the ad mislabeled the store.

"Hey, look here." Ned motioned for Missy to come to the empty store's door, "The shop left a small notice..."

Attention: We have moved across the city to 48th and Goodwill. Any previous job listings are null and void as of 13/11/08. We apologize for any inconveniences caused.

"Well, that sucks..."Missy sighed, "Half my attempts didn't even start..."

"Hey, look on the bright side," Ned smiled sheepishly while nudging her arm, "At least your almost a shoe in for the pet shop."

"Yeah." Missy perked up slightly, "And those kittens are like totally adorable!"

"Ah yes...the kittens..." Ned started grinding his teeth, a maniacal look starting to form whilst he reminisced about the two kittens, "So...are we done here...?"

"Yeah, again, thanks Ned, I really mean it." Missy gave Ned an awfully big hug, though not as threatening as her tackles. Ned just smiled and hugged back as more people started noticing again. Poking Missy's shoulder, Ned tried to get her attention before it was too late, "What?"

"People..." Ned said nervously. Missy looked around her, noticing a few people from school were looking at them suspiciously. She quickly retreated back a step.

"So...back to the car?" Missy shied away slightly, embarrassed from what happened.

"...Back to the car!" Ned thought for a moment before agreeing. They walked together in their usual side-by-side fashion, making sure to look as unromantic as possible. Ned unlocked the car, and slid into the driver's seat, only to come yelping out like a schoolgirl. "Hot!!...OW!!"

"Wimp..." Missy retorted before her thighs touched the searing hot leather seat, "Ouch! Damn mini-skirt..."

"Told ya." Ned nursed the back of his neck, waiting for the car to hopefully cool off. After about a minute, Missy made the first move and climbed into her seat, merely wincing this time. Ned followed suit and started up the engine. "Hey, Missy..."

"Yeah Ned?" Missy began buckling her seat belt, tenderly pushing it in due to the metal still retaining a scorching temperature.

"Um...about today..." Ned began to feel a chill down his spine, despite it being over 100 degrees, "we'll need to talk about it..."

"Monday." Missy interrupted Ned, "Let's talk Monday, during study hall...it'll give us to think about it..."

"Yeah, all right, that sounds good." Ned pushed the transmission quickly into first gear, cursing the manufacturer's choice to use metal. The ride home seemed to go by a lot quicker, but that may be due to the fact that Ned wasn't starving his ass off driving some self-righteous bitch to some random job listings. Instead, Ned was taking a close friend, maybe too close for comfort, home after a long day job hunting. No sooner had he finished that thought they had reached Missy's home. "Well, here we are..."

"Again, thanks Ned, I don't know how I could repay you..." Missy almost seemed to be sad that she has to go back home.

_'Well, it's now or never.'_ "How about this..." Ned pulled Missy into him and kissed her with a passion before letting her go. "Sorry, I had to know something..."

"...ehwhat?" Missy blurted out in complete confusion, "Um...bye Ned..." She quickly walked up to her house. Ned stayed to make sure she was in her house before leaving. He started drumming on the steering wheel to the radio as he headed back to his house.

_'Oh Neddy-boy...you've definitely got it bad...' _He thought to himself as he pulled into his driveway.

A/N: Bleh, a little later than I wanted, but it's here. Now seriously people, review, please! I mean, 2's not so bad, but come on! Also, if someone could clue me in on how to track my story hits, that would be a godsend. Peace!


	5. Dreaming of a Barracuda's Belly

A/N: I have a really bad writers block for this chapter, so it'll probably be shorter than the others...that and I'm also thinking about starting a crossover story...an the previous note(I'm writing this segment a while later than the previous one), I found a way to make my writer's block work for me, I just hope all 7(Wow, that's actually a pretty big number...) people reading this month approve as well...

Missy went up to her room promptly after entering the house. A mixture of flustered and tired, she fell onto her bed. Reaching for the stereo remote, she tried to select one of her cd's, but succeeded to instead turn on the radio, something she didn't know the stereo could do. Missy sighed heavily as some obscure heavy metal song appeared to be ending, like she could tell with that kind of music. Eventually, the DJ came on air, talking about current weather and traffic changes.

"And that's all for the the traffic and weather." The DJ said in a cool and suave voice that made Missy cringe at it's over-the-topness, "Alright, we have a text-in from Ted. He wrote- _Hey Don, I've had a pretty hectic day today, and I know classic rock isn't quite your thing, but could you play Bobby Darin's 'Dream Lover'? I'm sorta feeling nostalgic today._ Well, Ted, luckily for you KUGR FM is home to ALL varieties of rock and metal. So here's for you, Ted, _Dream Lover_."

_Every night, I hope and pray, a Dream Lover will call my way..._

_A girl to hold in my arms, and know the magic of her charms..._

_Because I want,_

_A girl,_

_To call,_

_My own,_

_I want a Dream Lover, so I don't have to dream alone!_

Missy found herself involuntarily swaying on her bed, humming to the tune, all the while thinking about Ned...

_'Do I really love him...again...?' _Missy began thinking to herself,_ 'This would be REALLY bad if it happened...again...I mean, I never did lose all my feelings for him, but I moved on. At least, I thought I did...'_

_Dream Lover, where are you? With a love, oh so true..._

_And with a hand, that I can hold, feel her near, as I grow old..._

_Because I want,_

_A girl,_

_To call,_

_My own,_

_I want a Dream Lover, so I don't have to dream alone!_

Missy couldn't take the strain anymore that plucked at her heartstrings, threatening to break it at any moment. She buried herself into her pillow as the song changed key up a semitone from C to C#. Missy was unusually talented at music, despite never learning an instrument or singing. Pulling out a tissue, she wiped the remnants of the mascara and cover-up off of her face, heading towards the bathroom. Missy splashed some warm water on her face, and continued to wash the make up off until there was nothing left. Looking at herself in the mirror, Missy noticed that she really didn't need to put on as much make up as she does. Looking through her assorted beauty products, Missy decided to pick out an all-natural foundation, a cheaper brand of mascara, her favorite cherry lip gloss, and a small beauty package. Putting these items aside, Missy threw out the rest of her items away and headed back to her bed. She placed her head down for quick power-rest. After a few minutes, Missy headed downstairs, made a small meal for herself, and returned back to her room. There, she prepared herself for bed, and laid her head down for the final time that day, slowly falling into a blissful dream.

Ned was leaving Missy's house when his radio spontaneously started up on his favorite station, KUGR, or The Kouger as it's known to the majority of people in the area.

"Alrighty now, it's time for our 'text-a-tune' competition folks!" The DJ voiced into the microphone, "All you need to do is text your name, song, and a halfway decent reason why we should play it and you could be a lucky winner! We will be accepting texts until the end of this next song, a personal favorite, Belly of the Shark!"

The heavy tones began beating through the ancient speakers of Ned's Barracuda when he pulled off to the side of the road. Pulling out his cell phone, he decided to send a text, having a feeling that he'd win this time around. Ned never was one to compete in these contests, usually it was Cookie trying to win a car in the school's bathroom. Ned continued driving, drumming to the rhythm as he entered the freeway. As the song was ending, Ned turned the volume up a notch to listen if he won.

Alright, we have a text-in from Ted." The DJ said suavely, "He wrote- _Hey Don, I've had a pretty hectic day today, and I know classic rock isn't quite your thing, but could you play Bobby Darin's 'Dream Lover'? I'm sorta feeling nostalgic today._ Well, Ted, luckily for you KUGR FM is home to ALL varieties of rock and metal. So here's for you, Ted, _Dream Lover_."

When Bobby Darin's voice began resonating through the car, Ned felt his heart jump a little. Singing along with vocals that resembled a banshee, Ned had his two minutes to completely shut out the world. When the song reached about a minute, Ned had exited the freeway, and decided to turn down the radio's volume and stopped singing, in case there was anybody to witness such an embarrassing moment. He starts meandering through the suburban jungle that is his neighborhood and soon enough his house peaks into view. By now the song was ending, going back to KUGR's regular heavy metal and hard rock. Ned pulled into his driveway, _'Oh Neddy-boy...you've definitely got it bad...'_ being the only thing on his mind. Putting the car into neutral, and stopped to finally admit to himself the painful, yet pleasurable truth, _'Oh yeah...REAL bad..."_

Ned headed into his house, kicked off his shoes, grabbed an apple from the fruit basket, and headed upstairs to practice some guitar progressions before throwing off his shirt and jeans into a corner with the rest of his clothes, and fell onto his bed. As he let sleep slowly consume his consciousness, numerous thoughts raced through his mind. Moze and their last night together, kissing Missy on the bench, one of many of Gordy's failed attempts to catch the weasel. Finally, the slumber gods dealt a final blow to him, as he drifted away with a final thought in his mind, a certain female very dear to him.

Alright, this chapter's really short people(for me, anyway), I just couldn't think of anything to write beyond going into boring details like them eating dinner...

Next time: What really happened between Ned and Moze on their final day? Who is this certain female in Ned's dream? And who the hell is Ted?! All(yeah...not really) will be answered next chapter!

Also, people I need more reviews! Praise me! Worship me! Call me the coming of the Antichrist! Give me something to work upon! For all I know the majority hate the direction I'm taking, but I'll never know unless you tell me...winks


	6. Giggling Ninjas of Textdom!

A/N: The "I know" section- It's been forever, I'm trying my damnedest to get this done, please don't viciously maul me. I've been really busy lately, what with school starting up and me having to take four college-level classes now. On the plus side, someone else read/reviewed/subbed to this, so it's not all too bad. Expect more delays similar to this one for a while now, because now it's school+musical+college stuff. In fact, be super pessimistic and don't expect anything from the month of October.

--

Sunday went by far too quickly for both Ned and Missy. Both of them spent the day analyzing and re-analyzing their feelings for each other: Ned trying to deny his thoughts, while Missy was trying to mask them. In the end, they only managed to intensify the already raging passion between them. Missy resorted to venting her feelings through her mother.

"Mom, I don't know what's wrong with me..." Missy said with a heavy pain in her throat, "I thought I got over him. I mean, I only ever wanted him before because I knew I couldn't..."

"Oh Missy, don't beat yourself up over this." Mrs. Meany comforted her vulnerable daughter, "I'm sure that you're just going through another one of your 'Ned Phases'."

"Wait...what do you mean by that?" Missy looked up at her mother, slightly angered.

"Oh come on honey," Missy's mother, "You've gone through at least 4 of these phases where you suddenly get all obsessive about him."

"Mother!" Missy yelled, "This isn't like that!"

"Oh really now?" Mrs. Meany looked at her daughter, unconvinced, "Then tell me, what is it?"

"Well..." Missy paused for a moment, "I think he likes me back..."

"That's certainly a difference considering your previous 'ventures'..."Missy's mother said blatantly.

"You don't believe me, do you?" Missy asked her mother, "It's okay, I wouldn't believe me either, but yesterday, when I was about to get out of the car, he..."

...

"You WHAT?!" Cookie yelled at his friend, now lying on his bed.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't resist!" Ned retaliated, "You should've seen her, Cookie. Hell, I bet if you weren't dating Lisa you would've done the same thing!"

"But it's MISSY!" Cookie tried in vain to knock some sense into his obviously delirious friend.

"But she was HOT!" Ned yelled before quickly covering his mouth. A painful silence dispersed through the room before Ned had the courage to speak again, "...Please tell me I did not just say that..."

"I'm sorry Ned, but you've gotten a taste of Missy, and now you can't stop." Cookie put his hand on Ned's now sinking shoulder, "In my opinion, Missy isn't that bad of a person really. She just needs a little attitude adjustment. Maybe you're the man for the job?"

"Wow Cookie." Ned was amazed at his friend's sudden turnaround, "You really mean that?"

"Of course Ned. I mean, I don't necessarily like her, but you're my friend, and you like her. I'll get over it." Cookie sat down next to Ned, crossing his fingers, "Besides, weren't you the one who told Coconuthead that he should go out with someone that he liked, regardless of what his friends thought".

"Wow...thanks..." Ned said before half-leaping off his bed, "So, you up for some 'Ninja Warrior Master' action?" Ned assumed a Kung Fu pose before pulling a video game box from behind him.

"I think you know the answer to that one." Cookie joined Ned as they both headed downstairs to begin their manly session of beating the crap out of each other through graphically-rendered ninjas and samurai.

...

"Hmm, well that certainly does make me a _slight_ believer Missy." Mrs. Meany sipped her coffee slowly as she listened to her daughter detail not one, but two separate kisses between the two. As much as she loved seeing her little girl like this, history had told her this wasn't meant to be, and she stayed relatively conservative, "Well, if you seem so sure that something's going to happen this time, you have my support, whatever the result."

Missy looked at her mother, half squinting, "I know you really don't believe me..." she began as she left the kitchen, "..but thanks..." she walked out of the house to her back yard. Laying down on the grass, letting the suns welcoming rays engulf her, she began thinking about all the times she crushed over Ned. After reaching crush number fifteen, she realized why her mother doesn't believe her.

"Holy hell..." Missy sighed as she put her hands over her face, "I _seriously_ need to talk to Ned now..." Missy had almost fallen asleep on the grass when a lone raindrop fell onto her face. Blinking herself awake, Missy noticed that another storm was heading its way over the neighborhood. _'Strange, that's the third one this week...anything to stop the drought I guess...'_ Missy power-walked her way to her house right before the hard rain started falling down. Missy had a sudden nervous twitch run through her body as the cold air of the kitchen met her hot, amongst other things, body. She looked at the clock, twenty past seven, and headed upstairs to her room. Laying down on her bed, she looked over at her phone, no new messages of any kind. She reached over and swiped it off the nightstand, flipped it open, and begin writing a text message.

...

"Oh man you ALWAYS get the bonus!" Ned yelled as Cookie's ninja began to systematically disfigure Ned's Samurai from the legs upward, "Can we at least _see_ what my samurai does?"

"Well, I have been kicking your ass for twenty minutes now..." Cookie said frankly as Ned assumed a beggar's pose, "All right, but we're doing it in practice mode, don't want you spoiling my _perfect record_."

"Yeah yeah you crazy cyborg." Ned replied as they went to the main menu to start up a practice session. Ned went to the menu to manually create a bonus item so his samurai could inflict some sort of atrocity to Cookie's ninja. Ned pressed the corresponding buttons to perform the 'super-special-awesome' killer move, and watched as the samurai grabbed the ninja, impaled him on the daikatana, and began to twirl the ninja around until its body gave and flew through the rest of the blade, ending with Cookie's ninja split in half from the waist up.

"Wow, that's pretty gruesome..." Cookie commented, twitching every time his ninja voiced its obvious discomfort, but full-on shielding his eyes as his ninja flew off of the sword.

"Wow indeed..." Ned was equally shocked, "Wait...it's not over?" Ned and Cookie looked on in curiosity as Ned's samurai walked over to the nearly bisected ninja laying on the ground and pulled out its heart before it burst into flames in its palm. They both stared on with blank expressions while Ned attempted to reach for the remote, eventually turning off the television, "So...wanna get a drink...?"

"Yeah...sure..." Cookie replied as they both got up and entered the kitchen in a near synchronized fashion. Ned grabbed two grape sodas from the fridge, tossing one to Cookie. They opened them together and took similarly-sized drinks, before placing them both down at the same time. An awkward silence ensued before Ned's phone blared off, letting him know that he had a new message.

_From: Missy_

_Hey, can we talk sometime today? I know you're probably having dinner now or something, but I figured I'd ask..._

"Who was that?" Cookie asked as he took another drink from his soda.

"Missy..." Ned replied flatly, "She wants to talk..."

"Well, I leave you to do that then." Cookie said as he tossed the now-empty soda can into the recycle bin, "I gotta head back home anyway. I'll catch you tomorrow?"

"Um, yeah, sure." Ned answered, slightly out of touch with reality, "Seeya tomorrow..."

1 ring...

2 rings...

"Hello?" Missy's voice appeared through the other side of the conversation.

"Hey, I got your text." Ned answered, "What's up?"

"Hey..." Missy said shyly over the phone. This was the first time she ever called Ned when he was at his house, "...um...I just wanted to call and...uh...ask you how you were doing...?"

"Oh, uh I'm fine, Cookie just left actually." Ned replied, equally nervous but less noticeable, "Hey, uh Missy, about Monday..."

"Ned..." Missy sighed heavily, "If you don't want to talk about it, just tell me. I'll get over it..."

"Oh no!" Ned said quickly, "Nononononono! It's NOTHING like that, I swear. I was gonna ask...well...if you wanna just forgo all that and join me for dinner somewhere tonight...?"

Unbeknown to Ned, Missy had started jumping up and down shaking her head in a very violent fashion. Quickly gaining her composure, she inhaled deeply, "Um, yeah...that sounds nice. Bit late, but any place in particular you had in mind?"

"Actually," Ned said sensuously, "I think I know just the place to go. See you in ten?"

"Yeah." Missy smiled as she said goodbye to Ned. Giggling and squealing and making other girly noises, Missy quickly rushed to her closet and pulled out a casual-yet-attractive outfit for the night and went to the bathroom to apply her now basic makeup. As if by clockwork, Ned had arrived ten minutes later on the Meany's doorstep. Opening the door, Missy grabbed her purse before being led to the car that stood before her.

"Say Ned..." Missy started as she entered the car, "Where _are_ we going, anyway?"

A/N: This chapter brought to you by: Miley Cyrus!(No joke)

Anywho read/review and all that yummy-chewy-center stuff please. Now my ratings are soaring through the roof! I also believe that physical-lengthwise this is my longest chapter so far(Blame the double space)!


	7. Meteor Fields et Juggernaut

Author's Notes: Hey, I did say no updates for the month of October, but I didn't say which year! *mauled/maimed/mudkip'd* Anywho, I've finally brought myself to reread my entire story(which wasn't too much considering some of the essays I've had to do), and you pesky fans wanting more finally got me out the writer's slum. Of course, that being said this is simply a minor update in my opinion[I'm shooting for maybe 2 pages max], and I'll have to get back in the swing of things before I start updating at a rate that would be considered "normal" so just hang in there!

…

"Say Ned, where _are _we going, anyway?"

Ned turned to his right, taking in a slightly different site of Missy, a fantasy slowly creeping it's way into his frontal cortex...

_Right, here we have the illusive Missius Meenius, now we gotta be careful or- Whoa, crikey! Almost got my arm there. Now you have to be wary of her right hand, which is usually draped in a makeshift "property of Missy" t-shirt..._

"Oh, uhm..." Ned quickly snapped out of his inner documentary, "Nowhere too fancy, you'll find out soon enough."

He shunted the sticky gear shift into first and with a slight groan the car half-assedly lunged off the side of the road and headed off into the slowly emerging sundown, or what would've been if the clouds were moving away from the sun. After about two minutes of driving through suburban jungle trail, Ned turned the car towards the freeway and after another ten rather lengthy minutes, due to his radio deciding to arc circuits earlier that day, Ned pulled off onto an old dirt trail heading towards a field, a place Missy was certain she had never even heard of let alone been to.

"Um Ned?" Missy started with an anxious tone in her voice, "I hope you didn't take me here to try and...you know..."

"Waitwha?!" Ned jumped, causing his iron steed to stall, "Whoa whoa whoa! Hell no, that's DEFINITELY not something I'd wanna do!"

By this time Ned had retreated as far away as he could while still being in his seat, unlike-wise Missy had actually nearly lept into his arms from the shock of having the car stall. After an excruciatingly awkward thirty seven seconds, they had both calmed down, Missy resettling herself while Ned shifted the car into neutral and applied the parking break.

"Well, here's as good a place as any." Ned said as he unbuckled himself, "Come on, you're gonna miss it if you just stay like that."

Missy didn't know what to do, her brain told her that Ned obviously wanted to show her something out here, but her instincts told her to taser him -not that she had a taser- until he can't have children. Somewhat forcefully, she made her way out of the car and Ned motioned her to get on the hood.

"Ned..." Missy asked at barely a whisper, "What are w-"

Before she could finish Ned placed his index finger on her lips, leaving her with a rather bemusing expression on her face.

"Watch."

It wasn't so much a command as it was a wish, a declaration if you will. For the first few minutes nothing of notable importance occurred, and then out of the blue, or purple in this case, a streak appeared across the sky. Missy wanted to say something but she that Ned would only put two fingers to her lips this time.

_If only he would put something else to my lips..._

The streaks started appearing more frequently, starting with a couple every five or six seconds. Slowly the streaks began to congregate more and more until eventually a full meteor shower developed; the sky having become blanketed in temporary stars and constellations. As soon as it had started it had died down, but that was all in perspective as the shower lasted more than fifteen minutes. About six minutes before it ended, Missy and Ned had intertwined their fingers upon each other. Continuing until three minutes after the shower ended, the two laid in silence, taking in their solitude and togetherness. Missy then abruptly propped herself up with her elbows and turned her body around so she landed halfway on top of Ned, their hands still entangled in one another.

"Ned...?" Missy whispered into his ear, closing the distance between them beyond what seemed to be the physical limit, "Please don't think I'm being a bit too forward but..."

Missy leaned in for a kiss, a kiss that didn't go unanswered. It wasn't anything romantic; there were no fireworks, Ned's skin didn't start sparkling, and Missy's eyes didn't roll into the back of her head. Nonetheless, what started out as an innocent kiss soon turned into a heated sprawl of limbs reaching around each other and the groans of an ancient machine being used in ways its maker only dreamt of. Of course, the parked beast was not designed for such front-heavy suspension use. After roughly two and a half minutes of the young couple's lewd acts the two had catapulted themselves off of the car, landing on the soft, slightly moistened grass beneath them. Unhampered by their slight descent -if anything even more hot and bothered because of it- the two continued in their explicit activities until Ned managed to regain some semblance of control over the situation.

"Wait, Missy," Ned started with heavy breathing, "It's not exactly like I'm not into this, but I think we might need to..."

"Two steps ahead, Ned."

…

A/N: Blarhg, I dunno what happened to me there. I don't particularly like this chapter, but I think it's a pretty good plot device for later on in the story. Peace!


	8. Compartment Labeled Skin

A/N: Guess whose back. Back again. Chef is back. Tell a friend.

Ahem... Yeah, I figured I'll try my damnedest to get my groove back in this. I'm gonna be brutally honest, I've pretty much lost all inspiration/motivation for whatever the original plot was going to have (yes, I do in fact remember some of the main points of the original plot about 1.5 years from the last update). That being said, this won't be the same story that it would've been if I had continued. I've had extensive time working on my overall writing skills so it'll probably seem less "flowery" than before, and the characters will probably be a little more OoC than they already were if only to allow me to redevelop the story. Hopefully I can steer them back into canon-personality archetypes, but I'll just leave a little snippet to round out the last chapter.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review this chapter, like seriously review it hardcore. I want to know how you guys will be with this sudden change in narrative style and I want you guys to give me plot suggestions. At this point I'm no longer writing it for myself at all, it's all for you and I want to give you what you guys are looking for...

...to an extent. ;D

…

"Wait, Missy," Ned started with heavy breathing, "It's not exactly like I'm not into this, but I think we might need to..."

"Two steps ahead, Ned."

Missy pulled herself off of Ned, lying on her back. She fixed her gaze back to the sky, never realizing there were so many stars in the sky. She moved her hand under Ned's, clasping onto it as she regained her breath. Ned's hands were hot and sweaty, but that didn't bother Missy, nothing about him bothered her at this point. All she wanted to do was stay there until she could recall the sky from memory, taking in every single prick of light that broke through the atmosphere.

All the while, Ned was left in a world of confusion, his male brain unable to quickly switch from the mental compartment labeled _Viewer Discretion Advised_ to compartment _Public Display of Affection_. While he didn't necessarily dislike the situation he was in, he wasn't expecting Missy to, quite literally, up and quit the status-quo.

"Hey... Missy?" Ned managed to eek out, the onset of the legendary _Blue Balls_ rearing its ugly head, "Are you alright?"

Missy continued to stare deep into the galactic arm, shuffling across the grass closer to Ned, "I haven't felt like this in a while Ned. Thank you."

Ned, albeit with a sore groin and general disappointment at the lack of physical intimacy, enjoyed the emotional aspect that was occurring. Taking the time to really get a feel of what it was like to hold hands with Missy, he began to notice smaller details that made this moment feel more intimate. Ned always knew girls were soft, that's one of the basics that all guys knew, but Missy's hands felt like they weren't meant to be on a human. Perhaps it was really just the raging hormones giving him these sensations, but Ned was straining to keep himself from trying to feel more of Missy. He knew better than to try and ruin this moment by trying to cop a feel, but apparently his lower-cognitive functions didn't get the memo.

"Um... Ned?" Missy turned to look at Ned, and then looked at his hand, "Do you mind?"

"What?" Ned blurted out before looking over. He had assumed nothing was wrong, until he saw that his hand had gone rogue and set up camp on Missy breast, "Oh... shit... Uh, my bad?"

Ned slowly withdrew his hand and slid it into his pocket before he had another chance to screw up. Missy continued to look at him, an omnipotent gaze of contempt written via a thick blush on her face. Deep down, she enjoyed Ned's carnal intrusion and wished he went a little bit further. She knew better though. She couldn't let him get too far too fast, fearing they would make a horrible mistake. She looked back to the sky, noticing the moon obscuring the mass of stars and any straggling meteors above her. She didn't like this visual intrusion on her otherwise perfect view and decided she would take this time to have a more down-to-earth event. Silently she rolled herself over, perching her body on her elbow initially, and situated herself right on top of Ned. She obviously surprised him with this action as his arms quickly went to his sides and she could feel something other than his thighs moving.

"Just keep it in your pants cowboy," Missy whispered into his ear, "And everything will be alright." Missy pushed herself closer to Ned, completely aware of how much she was probably torturing him. One at a time, she grabbed his arms and placed them on her waist, making sure her shirt was raised just enough for him to feel a little skin.

She never let him kiss her though. She wanted to see how far she could push him. She wanted to see just how far the near-infallible Ned Bigby could go before even he would give in to his urges. She stared down at him, though not able to see much under the night sky. Ned was lucky in this regard, as he had taken on a whole new shade of red, unable to slow his heart rate. They stared each other down for what seemed like an infinity-plus-one, and then, everything rushed forward as if they truly had been frozen in time.

"And what might you two be doing at this hour?" A voice above them said, red and blue lights flashing off his figure.


End file.
